Research & Development Manager NZ

Datamars is a global technology business developing solutions across animal management, identification and data collection. Our products combine hardware, electronics, sensors, IoT, RFID and software to solve real-world challenges.

As a business, we are continuing to evolve our product portfolio, with increasing focus on connected, data-driven solutions alongside the ongoing development, enhancement and sustaining of established products.

We’re looking for an R&D Manager to lead a multidisciplinary engineering team across our Auckland and Hamilton sites, spanning electronics, firmware, mechanical, test engineering and certification/ compliance, and help strengthen the way our teams work together across New Zealand and Internationally.

This is a hands-on engineering leadership role with a strong delivery focus. You’ll bring together the right people and capability around each project, working closely with Product Management, R&D, NPI, Quality and Production to turn requirements into practical technical solutions and successfully move products through development and into manufacture.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead and support a multidisciplinary engineering team across Auckland and Hamilton, creating an environment where people can contribute their specialist expertise and perform at their best.
• Take ownership of engineering delivery across new product development, product enhancements and sustaining engineering.
• Translate product and user requirements into practical technical solutions, working with the team to define the how behind the product.
• Manage engineering priorities, resources, project timing, effort and cost, adapting as priorities change and projects move through development.
• Challenge delivery timelines, assumptions and technical approaches when needed, using your engineering experience to identify risks and keep delivery on track.
• Work closely with Product Management, Quality, NPI and Production to ensure products are technically sound, manufacturable and ready for market.
• Build stronger connections between Auckland, Hamilton and Datamars’ international R&D teams, making better use of specialist capability across the wider business.
• Help evolve engineering capability and ways of working as Datamars moves towards more connected and data-driven products.

About you

• You’ll be an experienced engineering leader with a background in multidisciplinary product development, ideally within a manufacturing or technology-led environment.
• You don't need to be the technical expert in every discipline. What matters is that you understand enough across engineering disciplines to ask the right questions, challenge delivery timeframes and decisions, and know when to bring the right specialist into the room.
• You’ll be comfortable balancing people, technical requirements and delivery. You understand that projects don't always run to plan, priorities change and sometimes difficult decisions need to be made to keep things moving.
• Just as importantly, you’ll enjoy working with people. You’ll bring a practical, collaborative style and be someone who can connect teams, break down silos and bring out the strengths of the people around you.
• Experience in livestock, identification, connected devices or a related technology environment would be useful, but we’re more interested in your engineering leadership, product development and delivery experience.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to make a genuine difference to how Datamars’ engineering capability works across New Zealand.

You’ll have the support of an experienced R&D leadership team and the opportunity to work with highly capable engineering specialists both in NZ and internationally, while helping shape how those capabilities are brought together around the products and customers of the future.

Auckland is the preferred location, with regular presence in Hamilton required, particularly during the initial period.

Please get in touch with Mel Pantelides at Humanlogix for a confidential conversation [+64 27 272 1081](tel:+64 27 272 1081) or text to arrange a suitable time to chat, or email [email protected]